Epicene
by AlunaGray
Summary: Haruno Sakura travels back in time due to Kaguya's machinations. Unfortunately for her, Kaguya has a penchant for pretty bishounen boys and well...she went back as a guy. She's a he now apparently, but never mind. She- er he's Haruno Sakura for kami's sake. He'll adapt well enough and fix everything. Hopefully. AU. Drabbles.
1. i

**Summary:** Haruno Sakura travels back in time due to Kaguya's machinations. Unfortunately for her, Kaguya has a penchant for pretty bishounen boys and well...she went back as a guy. She's a he now apparently, but never mind. She- er he's Haruno Sakura for kami's sake. He'll adapt well enough and fix everything. Hopefully. AU. Drabbles.

 **Disclaimer:** Naruto is not mine.

* * *

 **1.**

When Haruno Sakura opened her eyes, she didn't expect the scene she was currently in.

After all, after fighting and striving hard to defeat Kaguya as one of the last shinobi standing, one wouldn't expect to return into one of her most cherished moments.

The day she and Ino became friends.

Was she having a last flashback perhaps? A last scene before finally going into the Pure World?

That's nice.

Although the memory was decidedly different than she remembered.

For one, Sakura was pretty sure her own purple-haired childhood menace, Ami, was flirting with her.

In a pull one's pigtails - girl's edition kind of way.

Despite the insults flying around - the most prominent of which was the huge forehead spiel-, the blushing cheeks were really quite telling. _Very_ tsundere-ish. The snide smile she remembered the girl wearing at that time was replaced with something almost sweet.

To be honest, Sakura found the display kind of cute.

Definitely weird since they're both girls and it's way too early to explore one's preferences and sexuality at that time, but cute.

Weren't they supposed to be too young for this?

Not that she should be the one throwing stones since kami knows Sakura got obsessed with Sasuke at such a young age, but at least she had the decency not to start in the very _first_ month of the academy.

Did this happen last time?

"Hey!" Ami protested, pouting indignantly. "Listen to me!"

Sakura was about to respond when Ino suddenly stood in front of her and came into the rescue.

...Although there's something strange about the picture, since Ino's facing _Sakura_ instead.

Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Granted, Sakura wasn't really in trouble, but she's the one who's outnumbered here if the giggling girls behind Ami were taken into account.

"You shouldn't ignore a lady when she's speaking!" Ino announced righteously, one hand pointing in Sakura's direction in scolding and the other wedged on her hips. "Mama said that boys should act like gentlemen but, really, you're just _rude._ " She shook her head in exasperation. "Never mind him Ami-chan. He's probably like Chouji and Shikamaru. Let's just get some flowers over there."

"But I..." Ami faltered, torn. Turning to Sakura, she continued. "Yuuto-kun, I just wanted to-"

"Come on." Ino persisted, dragging Ami and her entourage away. "He's not worth the effort."

Sakura could only stare at them dumbfounded and uncomprehending.

 _Yuuto-kun?_

Who's that supposed to be?


	2. ii

**2.**

Sakura was Yuuto-kun.

Of course, she was.

Sakura should've known that even at dying, she would still suck and fail in the process.

Let it be known that she fully blamed Naruto for this.

Sakura _knew_ that his perverted jutsus would eventually bite them back in the arse.

* * *

After standing in the field for who knew how long, a curly-haired young woman with thick glasses - Suzume-sensei if she remembered it right - finally guided her frozen self outside the academy.

The kunoichi tried to get Sakura to respond to her questions about what happened and how Sakura ended up like that, but she honestly couldn't bring herself to reply.

Especially when the teacher repeatedly asked for Yuuto-kun's answers.

That's not her name as far as she was concerned.

Sakura was still contemplating what in the world happened, but her mind could only come up with weird shit like dimension-travel or time-travel.

For the life of her, she knew that couldn't be possibly true because, well.

Chakra couldn't possibly be _that_ overpowered.

 _Right?_

Sakura wished she could think of a better explanation for this shit.

"Yuuto-kun!" A loud voice suddenly called out, interrupting her train of thought. Looking up, Sakura barely had any time to brace herself as she was tackled by her mother, Mebuki, into a very tight hug.

Much to Sakura's considerable relief, she only tensed at the action and didn't automatically attacked her mother as she was wont to during the war. The months-long drawn-out fight with Kaguya made her twitchy and she hoped no one noticed her hand closing in on her mother's neck.

It would be too much of a drag, as the Nara clan so eloquently put it, if anyone became suspicious and at this point, Sakura couldn't really be bothered to be taken into Torture & Investigations.

She's just...tired.

It surprisingly took too much out of her to actually _see_ Konoha whole and full of life, Ino happy and _unbroken_ , and her _mother-_

Her mother was alive and so _beautiful_ , it made Sakura's chest hurt.

She forgot that. Forgot her memories of them in the face of the crap Kaguya pulled once Naruto and Sasuke - her supposed reincarnated sons - died.

Relaxing minutely into her mother's hold, Sakura couldn't help but tremble a bit in sadness and regret. She wasn't able to properly mourn when her mother died during the Fourth Shinobi War from a wayward Zetsu clone and...the feeling of shame, guilt and frustration that always accompanied the thought was familiar.

Because Sakura was _near_. _Near_ the woman when she died. She knew she could heal her mother- she knew she _could_ but she _didn't_ because she had to heal the others and save as many _able bodies as she could that-_

Not that it even counted much in the end, since only a handful of them were left after.

When her mother smiled at her comfortingly, Sakura fought the urge to cry.

She really _missed_ this.

If this wasn't just some bizarre dream or some cruel trick by Kaguya, Sakura's making sure the woman would feel - would _know_ that she was appreciated.

Loved.

Sakura would make sure her mother's happy.

"Now, Yuuto. No need to cry. Kaa-san's here." Her mother rubbed her back soothingly. "What happened?"

Sakura blinked away the tears that she didn't realize she had in the corner of her eyes. She was about to alleviate her mother's concerns but before she could do so, a deep voice suddenly began. "I'm afraid it's my daughter's fault, Haruno-san."

"Yamanaka-sama."

Craning her head to observe Inoichi since her mother almost instinctively put her behind her back when the man approached, Sakura couldn't help but smile when she saw Ino hiding behind his father's legs.

Really, Ino at this age was adorable.

The Yamanaka clan head smiled apologetically. "There must have been a misunderstanding between the two of them and I hope you would-"

"Uh." Sakura interrupted awkwardly, furrowing her brows. "There's no need to apologize, Yamanaka-sama. I'm not hurt and Ino didn't do anything wrong."

The long-haired man glanced at her bemusedly, before patting a visibly hesitant Ino in the head. "My little flower really wanted to apologize. It would be appreciated if you would attend dinner tomorrow so she could make amends, Yuuto-kun."

"There's really no need to do so-" Sakura stopped, a sinking feeling in her stomach when Ino flashed her big blue eyes at Sakura imploringly.

In the face of such cuteness, and with faint nostalgia to the mix, she couldn't really bring herself decline.

Even if she's possibly making a very bad decision that would most likely get her mind-read at some point.

"But, I guess I'll go if you insist." She continued resignedly.

The sound of Ino's cheer warmed her heart and, with a subtle shake of her head to her mother who looked like she wanted to protest, Sakura sighed.

Guess, she'll just have to wing it.


	3. iii

**3.**

Sakura looked at the Shikamaru and Chouji warily, making sure to keep herself from trembling. Thank kami, the adults weren't here because Sakura didn't want to know how her face looked right now. As much as she tried to shrug the memories off and focus, Sakura couldn't quite how the two screamed as _they gasped out-_

"Do I really need to be here, Ino-san?" She asked hesitantly, her hands tightening into fists behind her back. "I don't want to intrude."

Sakura just arrived from the place and her parents just left her with Ino to interact with the other parents and adults their age. Apparently, the Akimichi were having an impromptu party tonight and since Inoichi didn't want to be rude and cancel, decided to invite them too. Her parents, who weren't too enthused in coming in the first place, was about to decline when _Ino-_

It was all Ino's fault, really.

"What a drag." Shikamaru began abruptly, looking at Sakura seriously. "Haruno, right? It's okay. It's just an excuse for the clan heads and matrons to gossip anyway. Just eat."

"Shika!" Ino protested.

Shikamaru snorted. "It's true."

"Yeah." Chouji supported hesitantly. "Our food's pretty yummy, Haruno-san."

Sakura tried to smile but she had a feeling it looked more like a grimace by the way her cheeks were aching from the strain. "You can call me Yuuto, Nara-san. Akimichi-san. It's alright."

Shikamaru grunted.

Ino sighed. "Yuuto-kun. Sorry for this bakas, ne? I..I'm sorry too. I didn't know that Ami was just thanking you for saving her from tripping the other day and-"

So that's what happened. "It's no problem. This isn't really needed. I could-" Sakura interrupted eagerly.

"You can leave if you want, you know." Shikamaru muttered drolly, shaking his head. He turned to Ino blankly. "Why did you even invite her, Ino? It's obvious she doesn't like being here." He sighed exasperatedly. "Women. They're always a drag."

Ino slapped Shikamaru at the back of his head.

"Was that really necessary?" Shikamaru whined.

"Yes, you baka." Ino rolled her eyes. "Yuuto's a guy."

"Oh." Shikamaru looked at Sakura from head to toe. "You don't look like one. I thought your parents just bad at naming kids. Still a _drag_ though."

Sakura strongly suspected Shikamaru's pulling her leg for reasons unknown to her at the moment, but the boy had a point. She really had appeared quite rude. She opened her mouth to apologize but Ino beat her to it.

"That's really rude of you Shikamaru." Ino scolded, shooting Sakura an apologetic look. "What's wrong with you today?"

"Shikamaru's bummed out because he couldn't find a shogi partner." Chouji offered hesitantly. "He lost to his tou-san earlier and he needed the practice." He twiddled his thumbs. "I'm not really good at shogi so I'm not-"

Ino huffed. "That's not enough reason to be rude to a guest." She moved closer to Sakura. "Don't listen to him Yuuto. He's just jealous because he's not as pretty- er _handsome_ as you are. You're really good-looking! I mean, you're eyes are really _green_ and-" She squeaked, her cheeks turning red. "You know what I mean, right?"

Sakura smiled at the blonde-haired girl fondly. "Yeah. I think you're really pretty too, Ino. Your eyes are beautiful." She turned at the three of them in the eye. "I'm sorry if I have appeared rude earlier. I just didn't want to inconvenience anyone." She took a deep breath and smiled as sincerely as she could. "Let's start again. My name's Haruno Yuuto. You can call me, Yuuto. It's nice to meet all of you."

When the three didn't respond and just looked at her strangely, Sakura wondered if she did anything wrong. Her social skills weren't that rusty, weren't they? Granted, Sakura hadn't managed to talk to others aside from the occasional order and abrupt planning but...she's not that bad right?

Kami. Please don't tell her she became as socially retarded as Kakashi-sensei.

To Sakura's dismay, all was silent before Chouji, bless his heart, smiled shyly. "I'm Akimichi Chouji. You can call me Chouji, Yuuto-kun."

"Uh...right." Ino cleared her throat. "I'm Yamanaka Ino, Yuuto-kun. You can call me Ino."

When Shikamaru didn't say anything, all of them turned to him expectantly. "What a drag." He sighed. "Call me Shikamaru."

Sakura didn't know if it was pressure or guilt but she found herself impulsively blurting out, "To make amends, I could play with you Shikamaru-san. If you want."

The three looked at her dubiously.

"I'm a fast learner." Sakura reasoned, going with it because hell, why not?

It's not like anything bad would happen, right?


	4. iv

**4.**

Sakura won against Shikamaru in shogi again and again.

It was surprisingly very satisfying.

She knew it wasn't mature of her to find so much glee in whooping the kid's ass since she's mentally older than he was, but Sakura, for the life of her, couldn't bring herself to care.

Seriously. Sakura could even say that the experience shaved off almost half of the stress she was burdening herself with. It was fudging _worth it_.

The frustration in the Nara heir's face when he repeatedly lost was hilarious and she's probably - maybe acting on uh...some pent-up frustration she didn't know she had in the past.

Although not overt in his dislike, Sakura had always gotten the impression that Shikamaru didn't like her much. Coupled with his tendency to complain about females in general - it wasn't a surprise that a bit of vindictiveness showed in her moves.

Glancing at the stunned Nara heir amusedly, Sakura patted Shikamaru in the back in a slightly condescending manner as he lost for the fifth time. "It's okay, Shikamaru-san. Maybe today's just a bad day for you."

When the spiky-haired boy glared at her balefully, Sakura was not the only one who laughed. In the corner of her eyes, she saw how even Chouji seemed torn. He was probably amused but didn't want to make his best-friend feel bad or something.

Sakura looked at him knowingly.

With a blush on his cheeks, Chouji ducked his head in response to her stare and stuffed his face with chips in an almost desperate manner.

Sweet kid.

"Served you right, Shikamaru!" Ino crowed gleefully, capturing Sakura's attention. "You finally found your match, huh."

She grinned at the blonde. "Shikamaru was very good at shogi though. I had a hard time." Sakura allowed graciously.

She didn't, but it didn't hurt to let the kid down easily.

"Again." Shikamaru demanded, his dark eyes flashing indignantly as if he heard her thoughts.

"Maa, Shikamaru. Was that any way to ask for a favor?" A voice began, amusement coloring its tone. Glancing at the source, Sakura couldn't help but freeze. The Jounin Commander and Shikamau's father, Nara Shikaku, was behind them for who knew how long and she didn't even _notice_ \- too absorbed in the game to pay attention to her surroundings. Since Ino or Chouji didn't seem surprised, the man probably arrived long before he decided to speak up.

Damn it, Sakura was getting rusty already. Shit.

"Yuuto-kun?" Ino asked, looking over her stiff form worriedly.

 _Shit_. Sakura repeated. Calm down. She needed to salvage the situation. Shikaku couldn't prove anything, damn it. She needed to calm down.

Shooting the blonde a smile, she stood up from her comfortable position - ignoring the decidedly curious glint on the man's dark eyes. "Nara-sama." Sakura bowed politely.

Moving forward, Shikaku just quirked his lips in amusement before messing her hair lightly. Sakura fought the urge to break his wrist and quietly sighed in relief when she managed to hide a cringe as she straightened up from her position. "No need to be so formal, Yuuto-kun." His eyes sharpened. "You're pretty good for your age,beating Shikamaru like that."

Sakura inhaled. He couldn't prove anything. She was just a kid. Gah. Her nerves was shot from the man's continued scrutiny damn it. She didn't even do anything much to warrant this kind of attention!

She just beat Shikamaru. He's a kid - about _seven-_ years-old for fudge sake. It wasn't a big deal!

...Or it wasn't supposed to be if she was from a clan or someone older. Ugh. To think about it, the fact that a kid - a beginner at that - beat the Nara heir was interesting. Naras were known for their intellect, after all and Shikamaru must have been a precocious brat at this age alreadly - probably handing several adults their arses left and right. Then there she was, all light blond hair and huge green eyes not only winning once but five times continuously-

She did warrant the attention. Sakura admitted. She got carried away from the glee of finally winning against the genius kid and well, looking back, it seemed like she was asking for the scrutiny by showing off.

Argh. Sakura depressed herself sometimes. Fudging Naras.

"What a drag." Shikamaru groaned, sporting an inquisitive look of his own because that's apparently a thing now. "Yuuto. Can you play with me again?"

Shikaku bopped his son on the head. "Really, gaki. It's a drag, but you need to learn some manners." He shook his head in exasperation. "Come on, the food's ready. I'm sure it can wait."

"Food!" Chouji said in relief. "Shika, let's go."

"But-" Shikamaru protested.

"Yuuto-kun. The food's here really good." Ino chimed, linking her arms with Sakura. "You should try my favorites-"

Sakura smiled slightly and let Ino's comforting chatter washed over her - ignoring the faintly foreboding feeling in her stomach.

The timeline was continuing its divergence from what she remembered in the past.

Sakura hoped it was for the better.

* * *

Ino snapped at Shikamaru, her blue eyes flashing irritatedly. "You just played with Yuuto-kun, yesterday. Don't hog him all to yourself." She looked at Sakura in pleading. "You promised to shop with me later, remember?"

Sakura sighed. She didn't know how it ended up like this, but beating Shikamaru bit her in the arse the next day after their visit.

And all the days and _weeks_ after that.

She was amused at first when the boy hunted her down for a rematch - surprisingly robust and motivated for once. Sakura decided to humor him but it got old quickly when Ino seemed to view it as a challenge and decided to play tug the rope with her as it. Shikamaru was going with it, seemingly unbothered, but she was in a team with Sasuke and Naruto as her teammates. Although he was valiantly trying to be low-key about it, Sakura could practically see the competitive aura wrapped around the dark-haired boy like a cloak.

Sakura didn't really want to lose on purpose, but it seemed inevitable if she wanted to spend some time with Ino. The Yamanaka flashing her big blue eyes at her again and she didn't know if it was her being male or what, but Sakura couldn't bring herself to say no. It had practically been weaponized by the Ino at this point and, like butter on a hot pan, Sakura caved without protest.

As if protesting her current train of thought, Shikamaru glared at her unnervingly . Kami, it's as if the boy could read her mind. Gah.

"Don't even think about it." The Nara heir warned, uncharacteristically showing his ire. "I could beat you without pity. Take the game seriously."

Sakura faltered. She paused on placing the pawn on her hand forward - a move that would leave her king vulnerable and would make Shikamaru win after five moves.

"I am." She protested weakly. "Taking this seriously, I mean."

"What a drag." He sighed loudly. Shikamaru then proceeded to pack up all the pieces in his shogi board - his arms jerking almost angrily. "You're not, Yuuto. If you don't want to play, just say so. Don't insult me by purposely losing." His face twisted in disgust. "I could do it on my own."

Shikamaru turned to walk away. He muttered under his breath. "It's a drag, but I'm going to beat you."

Sakura could only stare, baffled. She looked at Ino who was surprisingly unconcerned by Shikamaru's behavior. "What just happened?"

"Maa, never mind him Yuuto-kun." Ino beamed, pulling her forward. "He'll get over it. Shikamaru was always too lazy so he wouldn't really back up the threat."

"Threat?" Sakura repeated bemusedly.

Ino skipped away from her and giggled. "It's nothing. Really. Shikamaru's too much of a lazy bones to do anything else but nap. Come on. Let's go."

Sakura sighed. "Hai, hai."


	5. v

**5.**

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and Sakura just managed to escape from Shikamaru's shogi-obsessed grasp by ducking on a wall during their break time.

Unfortunately for her, as she was doing so, she was caught by surprise when numerous boys suddenly ganged up on her out of nowhere.

They declared themselves as protectors of Ino's innocence.

...She didn't expect it either.

Which Sakura realized was stupid of her, because if prepubescent girls intimidated others for the sake of love, then it wasn't far-fetched some boys would do the same.

She was paying for that now, as she was born witness to what must be the most pathetic show of intimidation known to man.

Seriously. The girls Sakura had been bullied by before could do better. They really knew how to hit where it hurt the most - which would be at that time, her insecurity over her appearance.

This...this was just _pitiful_.

And kind of hilarious.

They were quite lucky that she stopped herself in time when they tied her up in ropes. To be honest, they would have earned themselves a broken neck if Sakura wasn't fast enough to catch herself.

"Stay away from Ino." The thuggish one warned. He palmed his fist as if in warning. "Or you'll be sorry."

Ooooh. Tough guy. Sakura snickered inside her head.

"Yeah." Another one egged on, sneering in contempt. "You're not worthy of her anyway."

Knight-in-shining armor, huh. She really wondered what's in Konoha's water this days. First Ami and then... _this_.

It's probably that plant-asshole's, _Zetsu's_ , fault.

That's just the kind of shit the psychopathic plant would pull.

"Stupid pansy-ass."

People still say that?

"You look pathetic, weirdo."

Sakura fought the urge to yawn at the unoriginal insult. That's just sad.

"You're supposed to be a guy but you look like a girl." A particularly nondescript one scoffed. "Disgusting."

Meh. That's not an insult. Sakura was glad she was a bishounen thank you very much. As much as the hanging sexual organ freaked her out, she at least could confidently say that even if this was all some fudged up dream, she could go toe-to-toe with Haku in the looks department.

The boys around her seemed to think it was brilliant enough as they all laughed jeeringly. "Yeah!" They chorused.

"Was that all?" Sakura asked politely after the laughter died down.

All of them looked taken aback at the tone and they all shuffled, awkward despite of themselves.

Sakura hummed. "What about you then?" She addressed the only one who didn't say anything yet - the pale one with pretty bluish-gray hair. He was the only one who, Sakura noticed, seemed hesitant with doing all of this. Probably caved in due to the peer pressure.

Poor kid.

Not that Sakura wasn't willing to throw him under the bus if it meant she could get out of here and end this weird pissing contest.

She promised Ino they would spend lunch together, after all.

"Ye-yeah." The light-haired boy stuttered weakly. "Your forehead's really big and your skin look like milk. And. And...your strawberry-blond hair don't...suit you."

All of them looked at the light-haired boy dubiously.

That was weak. His insults could really use some work. If Sakura didn't know any better, she would have thought the kid was crushing on her instead.

"Do better than that, Shin." The thuggish one prompted. "We need to protect Ino's innocence, remember?"

The light-haired boy named Shin blushed, his cheeks splotched with red. "You pretty-boy, you!" He shouted. "You're so pretty and small but you shouldn't go near Ino because-" He ducked his head and stopped. "I can't do this."

To Sakura's surprise, Shin ran and turned away. The boys around her looked at each other, bewildered.

"What just happened?" The nondescript one asked.

"I don't know but I think it's this guy's fault." The thuggish one growled. He shook his head and moved closer. "Let's teach this-"

He didn't finish his sentence when a blond-haired wonder suddenly appeared and kicked him out of nowhere.

Shit.

Sakura's heart ached almost unbearably at the sight of brilliant blue eyes. Naruto, that idiot. He was even smaller than she remembered.

Damn it.

(Sakura wasn't fast enough. Good enough. Why? Why?

 _Why?_

She could only look on helplessly as Naruto screamed in excruciating pain as he was burned in-)

"Don't beat girls up, dattebayo!" Naruto announced defiantly. He turned to her and smiled brightly. "Don't worry. I'm gonna rescue you! I'm Uzumaki Naruto, after all. Future Hokage at your service."

One of the boy's face twisted angrily. "As if, demon brat." He spat out. "Tch. Our parent's said you're evil. Go away."

"Get out of here." The thuggish one shoved Naruto down.

Nodding at each other conspiratorially, they proceeded to hit the blond-haired boy instead. Naruto tried to fight back, but it's no use. The size difference too great. Sakura's eyes started to blur as two different images of the same boy overlapped.

"Stop it." She whispered, her voice trembling.

One defiantly challenging a goddess - a _kami_ \- and inspiring people with the stupid smile of his that didn't fade even after everything that happened.

("Sakura-chan." Her idiotic teammate gasped out painfully as he tried to smile in comfort. "Promise me-")

And another who's not as mature or as powerful as the other, but still the same idiotically optimistic person who defended people he didn't know and tried to stay happy despite of the unfair treatment he was subjected with.

"You cowards." Naruto taunted as he held his broken nose in his hands. "You can't fight one on one, huh?"

The boys' faces flushed red and they doubled their efforts in beating the smaller boy - the teammate she _failed_ , damn it - up.

"Stop it." She repeated in a louder voice, curling her hands into fists. Sakura broke the rope, uncaring of the bruises she got for her effort. "I-"

"What are you guys doing?" A familiar voice drawled pointedly.

Sakura stiffened.

Shikamaru looked at the scene in front of him in calculation - his eyes glinting in barely concealed anger. "Ino's looking for you, Yuuto. She's just right behind me."

The boys around her paled. "Shit, what should we do?"

"We should run, idiot. We can't let Ino see us like this." The nondescript one shouted frantically. "Come on."

"Cowards." Naruto shouted delightedly, even as the thuggish one shot him an angry look. "You-"

"What a drag." Shikamaru groaned out, interrupting Naruto's boasting, before untying the ropes on Sakura's feet. "You owe me, Yuuto."

"Yuuto?" Naruto asked, confused. He moved towards them closer. Sakura tensed. "Isn't that a boy's name?"

"He's a boy." Shikamaru drawled when Sakura didn't speak. "I know. I didn't believe at first either."

Sakura closed her eyes and sighed. "Thank you. Naruto. Shikamaru. I-" She stood up shakily. "I need to be alone." Sakura shot Shikamaru a half-hearted smile. "Tell Ino I'm sorry. I'll make it up to her next time."

Shikamaru's eyes sharpened. He eyed Sakura intensely and nodded. Before the blond could protest, he snatched Naruto by his collar.

"Come on, what is it- Naruto." Shikamaru said drolly. "I'll introduce you to Chouji. Leave Yuuto alone for a minute."

"Why?" Naruto asked, baffled.

"Just-" Shikamaru sighed. "What a drag."

Sakura ran before she could hear more.


	6. vi

**6.**

("Sakura, you have to promise me you won't give up." Naruto smiled painfully, his cheeks straining from the effort to hold the expression as Sakura tried her best to heal her stupid teammate while Sasuke and Kakashi covered their backs. The screams behind her were _deafening_ and Sakura couldn't stop herself from involuntary flinching when Naruto pushed her hand away.

"Don't do this, Naruto," Sakura warned, hating how her voice trembled. "I'm still trying to heal you."

Her teammate sighed. "Sakura-chan. Please." Naruto closed his eyes and it was all Sakura could do to breathe as she felt his pulse slow. "I'm not-" He coughed. "I won't survive this one and you need to conserve your chakra so you could last." He grinned. "Do it for them, at least. If you can't do it for me."

Sakura clenched her fist tightly. "I-"

"Promise me-" He gasped out. "You won't stop fighting, okay? Save them in my place.")

...

..

.

Sakura stopped running.

She didn't really know where she was but, at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to care.

It hurt to remember.

To see _him-_

Sakura wondered if Naruto thought he wasn't important to her.

She hadn't really stopped to think about what happened since it was a whirlwind of surviving Kaguya's rage after that. Everything just...blurred and with everything going on, she couldn't really spare the time to wonder about Naruto's last words.

And, to be honest, Sakura didn't even want to ruminate on it because she's sure she wouldn't like the connotations of his plea in the first place.

 _Sakura-_

Sakura admitted to some extent that she resented him a bit. There's a part of her heart that never really stopped disliking Naruto even if she did eventually learn to love him for who he was.

It was confusing - _disgusting_ , she hated herself for feeling that way, but the aching sense of debt she couldn't quite let go off was a burden.

A chip in her shoulder, she couldn't quite shake off.

Sakura's not blind enough not to know that she owed almost everything that she was as a kunoichi to Naruto. Tsunade was brought back in the first place, because of _him_. Sakura was picked as Tsunade's apprentice in the first place, because of _him_. Kakashi only started paying attention to her, because when _he_ left and went on that journey with Jiraiya, she was the only student that the teacher could focus his attention too.

Naruto was her rock, her foothold, her yard-stick, and her teammate.

Naruto was the one constant thing in her life that never changed and continued to adore her no matter how shitty she was and-

(Sakura loved Naruto, not in a way he wished it to be, but _enough_ that she could honestly say that she valued his life over hers.)

This world wasn't the same as the one she lived in. With her gender change, everyone she once knew started changing into people she scarcely recognized.

Hell, Shikamaru's starting to get motivated for reasons unknown to her at the moment, and if that's not diffferent, Sakura didn't know what was.

She's afraid that once she'll get closer to Naruto, she'll change him too.

The possibility that the once bright boy she knew would be _tainted_ by her - and shaped into someone _other_ irrationally terrified her.

"Why are you in our property?" A young voice asked curiously as the person neared her spot. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

Sakura flinched and looked at a familiar dark-haired boy with huge onyx eyes.

("Sakura," Sasuke muttered coldly as his eyes flashed red. "Go back. Get Naruto and Kakashi out of the way."

Sakura clenched her fists. "But, Sas-"

Sasuke gritted his teeth as one of Kaguya's abominable creations managed to slip past his defense. "Don't be stupid." He looked at her coldly as his arm bent in an unnatural manner. "Move!")

"You-" Sasuke's ears slowly reddened as the silenced from her side stretched on. "You don't have to be afraid." He huffed before turning away. "I'm not angry. I was just wondering why you're here."

"I-" Her voice trembled as she paled and tears fell down one by one. " _I-_ "

(Sakura never did see any of his remains, once Kakashi and her went back after recuperating and burying Naruto's body.)

The dark-haired boy looked at her anxiously. "Is there something wrong? I'm not going to hurt you." He approached her warily as if Sakura was a small animal that needed to be coaxed. Puffing his cheeks up, he continued. "I'm Sasuke." He smiled awkwardly. "Uchiha Sasuke. You are?"

When Sakura just shook her head, Sasuke looked panicked and stopped in his tracks. "You don't have to say anything," He urged earnestly. "Really. I'm not gonna hurt you. Promise. I'm not going to report you to Shisui-nii or anything. If you just want to sit there, that's okay too."

Sasuke sat down in front of her - furrowing his brows tightly. After a few minutes of Sakura's stifled gasps, Sasuke brightened. "Do you want my tomatoes, then? Tomatoes always made me feel better." He puffed up proudly. "I'll give you my stash, so you won't cry anymore, okay?"

Sakura clenched her eyes shut as she finally succeeded in getting herself in order, before standing up and bowing her head stiffly. "I'm-" She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for bothering you. "I'll be going now."

"Wait," He stared at her worriedly. "Just stay there if you want. I'm not kicking you out."

Sakura paused. "No. It's okay Uchiha-san. I think my mother's getting worried and I think I just got lost, so it's-" She sighed at Sasuke's insecure expression. "It's not your fault."

"Really?" Sasuke said doubtfully, unconvinced.

Sakura nodded before smiling slightly at the once familiar boy. "Yeah." She nodded her head to the side - hearing the faint sound of a voice calling out. "I think someone's calling for you, though."

"All right," Sasuke coughed before smiling at her hesitantly. "It's- it's nice to meet you."

Sakura looked at him dubiously.

"It's true!" Sasuke protested. "Even if you cried, I think- I think you could be my friend." He avoided her eyes. "Nii-san told me I should make friends with others too, but it's difficult so far, so _so-_ " He blushed before scowling away in frustration. "Can you please be my friend? Don't leave."

Sakura stared at him complicatedly.

"I offered you my tomatoes too," Sasuke reminded desperately. "So you should just say yes so we could be even."

"Alright," She nodded helplessly - offering her hands in greeting. "I'm Sa-" She stopped before correcting herself. " _Yuuto._ Haruno Yuuto."

"Sayuto?" Sasuke muttered to himself - his eyes shining in delight as he tried to maturely grip her arm in a handshake.

She smiled sadly. "Yuuto, Sasuke-san. You can call me Yuuto."

(As expected, Sakura-

Sakura could never really deny Sasuke of anything.)

"Un," Sasuke beamed at her eagerly. "Yuuto-kun."


End file.
